Measuring value creation: VAIC and EVA Gianpaolo Iazzolino, Domenico Laise and Giuseppe Migliano Summary Purpose – This study proposes a comparison between Value Added Intellectual Coefficient (VAIC) and one of the most important performance evaluation methods, the Economic Value Added (EVA), starting from a re-interpretation of the VAIC. Design/methodology/approach – The empirical data were gathered from AMADEUS Bureau van Dijk and consist of 2,596 companies operating in Northern Italy, from six different economic sectors, observed for the year 2011. A correlation analysis was carried out in order to highlight whether there is a relationship between the two concepts of VAIC and EVA. Findings – Results show that EVA and VAIC have no significant relationships; as a matter of fact, EVA is based on financial theory, whereas VAIC is focalised on the assessment of Intellectual Capital Efficiency (ICE). Practical implications – Managers could be misled due to the fact that they often make decisions by taking into account only financial indicators such as EBIT, EVA, etc. Although methods like EVA have improved modern accounting systems, they do not take into account information linked to ICE. Therefore, these two perspectives can be useful in a context in which firms’ performances are measured through multi-criteria methodologies (i.e. Balanced scorecard). Originality/value – The proposal describes the differences between VAIC and EVA considering these two concepts as not contrasting. In fact, in order to better measure firms’ performances, it could be useful to consider VAIC and EVA as an integrated vision in order to develop multi-criteria evaluation systems, rather than consider them separately. Keywords Intellectual capital, EVA, Correlation analysis, VAIC, Financial performances, Multi-criteria, AMADEUS Bureau van Dijk Paper type Research paper 1. Introduction In the last few years the set of tools for measuring firms’ performance has increased a lot. In this context, two of the most important innovations regard the methods that are able to measure value creation: the Economic Value Added (EVA) (Stewart, 1990, 1991); and the Value Added Intellectual Coefficient (VAIC) (Pulic, 2000). On the one hand, EVA is a useful tool for firms’ performances measurement that, combined with other indicators, allows analysts to better investigate the financial performances of a specific company. On the other hand, VAIC refers to a different perspective of ‘‘value added’’. In particular, EVA measures the Value Added from the shareholder’s perspective, whereas VAIC is a measure of Value Added from the stakeholder’s point-of-view. Thus, these two different perspectives lead to a variety of tools used for measuring firms’ performances. EVA can be calculated starting from all Income Statement configurations PAGE 8 j MEASURING BUSINESS EXCELLENCE j VOL. 18 NO. 1 2014, pp. 8-21, Q Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 1368-3047 DOI 10.1108/MBE-10-2013-0052 Gianpaolo Iazzolino, Department of Mechanical, Energy and Management Engineering, University of Calabria, Rende, Italy. Domenico Laise, Department of Computer, Control and Management Engineering, University of Rome ‘‘La Sapienza’’, Rome, Italy. Giuseppe Migliano, Department of Mechanical, Energy and Management Engineering, University of Calabria, Rende, Italy.